No rest in recruitment drive

24 June 2013

With his squad set for a return to pre-season training next Monday, Bantams boss Phil Parkinson is continuing to work away with his plans for the forthcoming campaign.

Perhaps surprisingly, the summer transfer market has so far been slow to pick up this close season, with City just one of a number of clubs within the Football League yet to make any solid moves in the current shopping window.

The lack of new arrivals into the Coral Windows Stadium at present doesn't mean a lack of effort behind the scenes though - far from it.

Even a recent well-earned family break abroad didn't stop the City chief in his pursuit of securing fresh faces to add to his present group of players at Valley Parade.

Ideally Parkinson would like some new recruits in by the time his squad reconvene next Monday, but he is fully aware that the most important thing is to have the right group of players in place for the start of the league season, not pre-season.

Parkinson said: "We are trying to attract players who are also probably interesting clubs from the lower Championship level or the top end of League 1. That can obviously make it difficult at times and mean that patience is sometimes required.

"We are making progress and hopefully we will be getting there by the start of pre-season.

"You would normally want most of your squad in at the start of pre-season but the main aim is to have the best squad possible in place for the start of the actual season.

"We are working hard to do just that. The market is currently really quite quiet but we are talking to several people and waiting for results.

"We know that League 1 is going to be a division with some really good clubs in it and we want to try and make sure we are going to be as competitive as possible."